Irish pump prices, 2006A summer peak in August, then a slide into November.

2006 ended with petrol at €1.030 and diesel at €1.028, after averaging €1.119 and €1.095 respectively over the year. The year's closing petrol price was 4.6 cent lower than the opening one. The change from 2005 amounts to +7.0 cent for petrol and +6.3 cent for diesel, comparing annual averages.

For diesel the high was €1.138 on 21 Aug and the low €1.028 on 20 Nov; petrol ran from €1.030 to €1.209. On average through 2006, diesel was 2.4 cent a litre cheaper than petrol. The heating gas oil series, which in Ireland means green diesel, averaged €0.707; its extremes were €0.660 and €0.762.

The monthly pattern put August at the top, with petrol averaging €1.195, and December at the bottom with €1.030.

The ledger of weekly changes reads 6 up, 5 down and 38 level for petrol.

In EU terms, the 2006 petrol average was €1.232 and Ireland's was 11.3 cent lower against it.

Ahead of the carbon tax, duty in 2006 was excise alone: €442.68 per 1,000 litres on petrol and €368.06 on diesel at the close of the year, per the Commission.

The years around it, what a litre cost in 2005 and fuel prices in 2007, follow the same layout.

Every other year is one tap away on the long-run price record.